[smc-discuss] WhatsApp and mental torture in school communities

[Akshay S Dinesh]

What do schools do with a chat app, any idea?
Do they send videos across? Or is it to communicate things like time table?
Or are they using two way communication?

There are several things which can be solved by thinking ahead.
For example, time tables shouldn't be announced 10 minutes before class.

Multi-way chats are probably unwanted. If at all required, perhaps, a large
discourse instance with private areas are probably better for many reasons
(including the ability to use it via email).

There are people who don't know how to use email but do know how to use
Whatsapp. But this is no reason to continue using Whatsapp for every damn
problem. Like they say, everything looks like a nail for a person with a
hammer, every problem gets solved through Whatsapp these days which is sad
considering how Whatsapp creates more problems than it solves in many cases.

Hosting videos, again, is better managed through a different solution where
organizing content is more effectively done.

I think, when we are suggesting a solution, we may actually suggest
solutions to the actual problems than be drawn away by their attempted
solution and offer alternatives to that solution whether or not they solve
the original problem.

If, instead of jumping to a half-baked (or 10% baked) solution like
Whatsapp, the schools and department of education take a week off and think
about what they want to do, this might be a brilliant opportunity to
redefine the education system itself.

What if there is one wiki where teachers of Kerala co-create textbooks in
Malayalam like ck12.org ? We have the experience of running school wiki

When switching to internet, it is dumb to not use the power of
collaboration it offers. We have to tell the education department to now
think about becoming futuristic (think edx, coursera, OCW, etc)

Akshay


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